Yves Chamberlain did not know that the EI student program had been stopped until her boyfriend called her in tears.
“I had a feeling the government was making it even harder for me to study at university,” she said on Friday. “I immediately felt the stress and panic of what I was going to do so I could afford to do it next year.”
Chamberlain uses the New Brunswick Employment Insurance Insurance Connect program to fund his living expenses while studying mechanical engineering at the Université de Moncton.
The program has enabled people who have worked enough hours in summer jobs to be eligible for employment benefits, to have access to them while at university or other full-time training.
Chamberlain said her friend told her that an email had been sent from the Université de Moncton student federation explaining the situation.
Yves Chamberlain began a petition in hopes of reviving the job program in New Brunswick. (Presented by Yves Chamberlain)
He knew immediately that he had to take action.
“I told myself I had nothing to lose to try to start a petition,” Chamberlain said. “I never expected it to develop so much. But it just shows that a lot of students need this program and are willing to fight for it.”
At 3 pm on Friday, the petition has more than 12,000 signatures. Chamberlain said she was shocked by the response.
When the petition has 15,000 names, Chamberlain plans to attach it to an official letter to the New Brunswick government.
How did the students find out?
The Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labor did not make a public announcement of the redundancies, but instead chose to send an email to some undisclosed recipients.
The U de M student group was one. Jean-Sebastien Leger, the president, said that after the e-mail arrived on Thursday morning, he was with the provincial department shortly afterwards with other representatives of other student unions.
Jean-Sebastian Leger, president of the U de M student federation, said the decision to drop the program could exacerbate labor shortages in some areas. (Submitted by Anthony Doyron)
“We were very concerned about the impact that would happen to students across their province,” Leger said.
“We are quite concerned about the impact on the accessibility and capacity of students, especially students who come from rural New Brunswick, about whether they will be able to attend post-secondary education.”
Leger said the federation had decided to launch its own news release, which was shared on Facebook and emailed to students.
He predicts that the cuts will exacerbate labor shortages in areas such as nurses. Nursing internships are unpaid and students often rely on EI for living expenses.
“Because of the internships, they can’t work for 16 weeks in the summer, which is another crisis for their financial capabilities,” he said.
More debt
Leger said the average debt for a New Brunswick graduate is $ 40,000 and that it would increase without the EI program.
Maggie Hildebrand, a student at U de M, already has a mortgage with her longtime partner, so the debt is not new. But this is the first time she will have to take out a student loan debt.
“I don’t have any family support for a university at the moment, so I applied for a student loan,” she said. “Right now I’m trying to find as many scholarships as possible, but it’s kind of like a lottery game.”
Maggie Hildebrand said she wanted to continue her studies after her bachelor’s degree, but did not know if she would be able to do so now. (Submitted by Maggie Hildebrand)
Hildebrand said she had not been eligible for a student loan for some time because of her family’s income, but is now doing so.
Hildebrand wanted to continue his education after his bachelor’s degree. She wants to go to healthcare, so she is considering a master’s degree, a nurse or a medical school.
“I really wonder if I can afford these options or not.
The students speak
Hildebrand said he did not believe when he heard about the program and went to the government’s website to confirm it. There was nothing there for that.
She said she and her friends turned to local politicians.
“We are students, we are their voters for different civil rights, I hope they will take this seriously,” Hildebrand said. “I hope that they will try to reconsider and decide whether this is actually in the interest of the students.
Why don’t you find a job?
Hildebrand, at the beginning of his medical degree, took seven or eight hours per semester, more than the five needed to be classified as a full-time student.
She said it was simply not possible to work at the same time as school.
This year, Hildebrand took only a full course and did not overwork, so he managed to find a job as a teacher. She only made $ 69 every two weeks, so she was still collecting EI. Before the pandemic, its EI was about $ 5,000 a year, but during the pandemic, benefits doubled in one year, so in 2021 it received about $ 12,000.
She said the amount she receives from EI depends on the year and how much she made in the summer. Hildebrand always worked full-time or more in the summer.
The answer of the province
Paul Bradley, acting director of communications for post-secondary education, said the change brings New Brunswick practices in line with other provinces.
He said EI never intended to fund post-secondary education or serve as a form of assistance for students.
He said the NB-EI Connect program is outside the federal government’s eligibility criteria for EI benefits.
“We’ve heard from many employers who are in desperate need of workers, especially those in the hospitality and services industry, who would traditionally have access to part-time students,” Bradley wrote.
I’m leaving
Some students who have used the EI program now have to make difficult decisions.
Kaylee Brewer took out a loan to go to Dalhousie University, but it wasn’t much. She said it was assumed that if the student’s parents made a certain amount of money, they would contribute to their child’s payments at university, but that was not the case for Brewer.
“I was really devastated because for me, this program meant I could go to school,” she said. “Without him, I would have had to give up.”
Brewer said the next few weeks would be tough as she figured out what to do.
“It’s just so stressful because you’re in an environment where you’re just trying to start your life, you’re trying to get a better education, you’re trying to start becoming independent,” Brewer said.
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